The search operation for 19-year-old Jay Slater in Masca has officially concluded without success, as confirmed by the Guardia Civil today, Sunday. Jay Slater's disappearance has gripped both Tenerife and the UK over the past two weeks after he vanished following the NRG music festival when he went back to an Airbnb with two people he met at the event.
The morning after the festival, he contacted his friend Lucy Mae, saying he was lost and thirsty, had missed the bus back to Los Cristianos, and planned to walk back to his apartment. His phone battery died shortly after, and he has not been heard from since.
Despite exhaustive search efforts by the Guardia Civil, Mountain Rescue teams, Civil Protection, and firefighters from Santiago del Teide, no trace of Slater has been found. The search has included drones, helicopters, and search dogs, and even led to the discovery of another missing Brit in a remote area.
Yesterday, Saturday, a large-scale search was organised with volunteer help, in which an extra 30 people with mountain experience participated. Slater’s family did not attend, but they have hired a private investigator from the UK and raised over £43,000 via Go Fund Me to help find Jay.
Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, arrived in Tenerife on June 18th and reported receiving calls from people claiming to have kidnapped her son. The callers alleged that Jay owed them a significant amount of money. Over time, Duncan has increasingly considered the possibility of abduction. Jay's father, Warren Slater, arrived later and has been more critical of the search efforts, which have now been called off.
The Guardia Civil has been exploring other leads beyond the Teno Rural Park. Santiago del Teide’s mayor, Emilio Navarro, mentioned that authorities have been reviewing security footage and questioning potential witnesses. Some witnesses claimed to have seen Jay watching Euro football matches in a local bar.
British media outlets, including the Daily Mail and The Sun, have speculated on additional details surrounding the case, particularly focusing on an alleged theft of a Rolex shortly before Jay's disappearance. Reportedly, Jay was involved in an altercation with a "large Eastern European man" outside Papagayo nightclub in Playa de Las Américas, which he had attended on the last night of the festival.
The Rolex story surfaced nearly two weeks after Jay's disappearance and was revealed by his friends, who had not mentioned it earlier. This new twist adds another layer of complexity to the case.
The unresolved questions and the termination of the search in Masca suggest that the Guardia Civil is considering other hypotheses. The possibility of an accidental disappearance seems increasingly unlikely. The Guardia Civil maintains that all theories remain open as the investigation continues.
